A MENTAL health worker has been struck off after lying that he had carried out fire alarms tests in a block of flats that housed “vulnerable” adults.
Colin McCrae was working for the charity Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) in Glasgow when he claimed that he had tested several alarms at the homes of service users in 2014.
Mr McCrae was required to carry out weekly fire alarm tests for residents who lived in the block and who suffer from “enduring mental health conditions.”
But instead, on five separate occasions, the mental health worker failed to test the alarms but indicated he had done through the charity’s “Weekly Fire Checklist and Fire Log Book”.
Over the course of several months he was also found to have left alarm systems in test mode – meaning the machines were ineffective and would not go off if the building went on fire.
While Mr McCrae’s actions were noticed before any serious consequences occurred the panel at the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) decided to remove him from the register due to the potentially fatal nature of his actions.
Documents from the three-day hearing, released on Friday, state: “While employed by SAMH you worked as a support worker where this service provides support to vulnerable service users who suffer from severe and enduring mental health conditions and require high levels of support.
“Those service users each occupy their own self-contained ‘scatter flat’ within communal blocks of flats, which are all located close together.
“The SAMH administrative office is located within one of those communal blocks of flats.
“One of your specific duties was to carry out and record weekly tests to the fire alarm system that is fitted at the flats occupied by service users.
“SAMH deem weekly fire safety checks to be necessary because of the vulnerability of its service users, many of whom have little experience of living independently and assessing risks to themselves.
“The panel was satisfied that you had been fully trained on the requirements of the fire alarm tests and that you understood their importance. You had carried out such tests regularly and successfully.
“The panel was also satisfied that you understood the importance of completing and recording the tests accurately and honestly and you had demonstrated that you were capable of doing that.
“In late 2014, it came to the attention of your management team in SAMH that you may have been falsely recording that you had completed a number of fire alarm tests that you had not in fact carried out. As a result, you became subject to a disciplinary investigation by SAMH who also referred the allegations to the SSSC.”
Mr McCrae had been working at the charity, which provides support to “vulnerable service users who suffer from severe and enduring mental health conditions”, between July 2005 and January 2015.
On making the decision to issue him with a removal order, the panel said: “While you had admitted some of the allegations at an early stage, you had shown limited insight as to the consequences of your behaviour.
“On the contrary, you had sought to minimise the seriousness of your behaviour.
“You had committed numerous acts of dishonesty by falsifying documentation and concealing the fact that you had failed to carry out fire alarm tests as required.
“Your actions had been premeditated and deliberate, in circumstances where you had been fully trained on the fire alarm testing process and had carried out tests on numerous occasions prior to your misconduct.
“Your actions had placed vulnerable service users at a serious risk of harm, particularly when you had left fire alarms in test mode and therefore ineffective had there been a fire in a service user’s home.
“Your behaviour had amounted to a serious abuse of the trust of service users who had an expectation that you would carry out your role properly and provide them with care.”
